16 children

[belinda]

WOW i just heard on the news that a lady in America has just given birth to her 16th child :eek: i think that is amazing just thought i would let you alll know..
she muct be a strong lady as i find one hard enough he he he

belinda

[jasminesmum]

I heard that too.

I think my mouth is still open in amazement.

And she still wanted more. :eek:

[jaydensmum]

She had her 16th Child! :eek: Man she would have to be strong, is she crazy! :D I couldnt think of anything worse, that's like having a football team to raise.

jaydensmum.

[draught]

My MIL has a builder working at their place at the moment who is one of 19 children! I thought my grandmother was good with 10 but 19!!!! Wow.

[cosmic]

I heard that too! 16 kids (she's only 39)... and reckons she hasn't stopped yet. :eek: Apparently there's 2 sets of twins in there. I was thinking by now she's probably got enough older ones that they can look after the younger ones and she can kick back. :D

For me the hardest bit to understand is not how she carries and bears all those children.. but that in between all that being pregnant and getting up in the night etc etc, she actually still manages to have sex??!!!! :confused:

[talon]

gosh - you'd need a bus to get around in! :eek:

i wonder how many are in the same bedroom? or how you could afford it? They must be only on one income....

[the-roosters-chicken]

Hey all,

I heard on the history channel the other day as I was walking past the television that Henry Ford (the inventor of the automobile) was 1 of 44 children.

That shocked me for a while.

[Puk]

They all have names starting with J too! :O

[Nickster]

Wow - I am lost for words. To have 16/19/44 children is inconceivable (sorry no pun intended) to me!! How can they afford to feed and clothe them all? How would Mum find enough hours in the day to manage them all? Wow.

[Milly]

There was a documentary on an Orthodox Jewish family living in Melbourne that I saw last year on SBS sometime and it was really interesting.

Anyway, they have 17 children (all single births) and at the time of the doco she was still in her childbearing years (38 at the time). She had her first 8 children in Israel before migrating to Australia.

Apparently it is the Orthodox Jewish belief that the husband must only sleep with the wife in her fertile time (other times they sleep in separate bedrooms). So, basically every time she and her husband slept together it was when she was most fertile and then she got pregnant. Really interesting. It would be interesting to know if they have had any more children since the documentary. She joked that she was not keen to go again but I wonder if they did have any more. They were the most amazing family and so organised. I guess you would have to be too :) They also managed to send all of the older children to a specialist Orthodox Jewish Private School in New York. They worked out the most amazing ways to feed, clothe and educate thier children and yet their income was not huge at all. I think they did lots of work within the Orth. Jewish community in St Kilda. Boy they were amazing.

[Shazbutt]

I would like to now how they pay for everything? They're all home schooled so someone is obviously staying home with them....I think it said they all live in a 3 b.room house with only 2 toilets? But they are building a new (very large) house with a commercial kitchen and 9 bedrooms? Now how do they pay for that! :confused: Wow, i think people who have 4 or 5 kids are amazing...but 16? Two are enough for me! :p

[jlrjyeboah]

My dh is the second last one of nine. I don't know how his mother did it, but 16. I am on my 3rd and having enough trouble keeping him in. Can you imagine having 16, after all those pregnancies and all that birthing, I would imagine everything would be very loose iykwim :confused:

[Angel_baby_1982]

A good friend of mine is a middle child in a family of 12 kids! Her parents own a dairy farm and are by no means well off but they managed.

The kids went to public schools, each one helped on the farm when they were old enough. I LOVED visiting her family, it was always a really happy home, and her parents were (and are!) just the lovliest couple, and never regreted having so many kids.

Oh and my friend's mother looks like she's never had kids! Working on the farm will do that though!

Apparently they planned on having 4, but in the 4th pregnancy had twins, and apparently because of the twins they decided they LOVED having babies and raising children, so they kept having babies! The only reason they stopped is because there were complications with their last child (he's 7 now) and she had to have a hysterectomy after the birth!

I'd love a household like that! A house full of kids! Only problems are DH would need some convincing, the family would go balistic at me, and I'm not yet sure how many kids I can handle yet! Hubby said we will play it by ear for now ;)

[Tubbychook]

Hi I also wathced the story on the news about the lady who had 16 children.

I love kids and really want to have 4. We have our first on the way now and i worry about how we are going to feed 1 let alone 4 or in her case 16! Their shopping bill was over $2000 per month now that shocks the pants off me.

My Husband is the oldest of 6 (well 10 really cause his mother went on to have 4 childern after she left hubby & his brother with their father who remarried and had 4 more childern as well) and the few times that we have been to his parents place for a weekend and all 6 kids have been home plus the parents myself and the girlfriend and boyfirend of hubbys brother and sister the food bill for sunday morning breakfast was huge we cooked bacon and eggs one morning it was 2kg of bacon 2 dozon eggs and 3 loafs of bread 1kg of tomatoes. I nearly passed out when i saw all of the food brought out. I dread to think of how bad its going to be once the others all get partners and start having children. :eek:

Shannon

Mummy to be 2/03/06 to Bubba Squirt :)

[pregasaurus]

I'm the youngest of a family of 7 (all singletons) and I thought our family was big! If you count my parents, their kids, their kids partners, grandchildren and the one granny left we total 35 (soon to total 37 when my sister and I have our babies). In comparison my husband has him, his parents and one sister, still single and childless. Both his parents came from 2 child families. They're all so quiet and reserved, it's amazing! Family get togethers with my family is worse than the zoo! And you learn to eat really quickly, or starve!

As for 16, I would need Valium with breakfast, lunch and dinner. I would be curled up in the foetal position in the corner rocking back and forwards mumbling 'so many kids, so many kids.......' :D

[WeThree]

i think this family is brethren or something, and its basically her job to 'put out ' and keep counting her blessings each time her dh (jimbob) impregnates her :rolleyes: its really not a good idea for a woman to keep having so many children, it leaves a huge toll physically and despite their beliefs, i think husbands should take better care of their wives than to allow them to go through this time and time again, i mean they are not breeding heefers! having said that, it sounds like this woman was born to be a mother, i mean she home schools them all and everything!

[Angel_baby_1982]

That or they may just love kids :rolleyes:

What is this big thing people nowdays have about huge families? "It's unusual therefore it can't possibly be healthy" :rolleyes: A woman's body is built for procreation, like I said my friend's mother had 12 kids and would have had more if she could, and is in top physical condition because she looks after herself with healthy diet and exercise!

What the female body ISN'T supposed to do, and ISN'T healthy is postponing parenthood into the late 30's to get to the top of the career ladder!

[WeThree]

there is nothing wrong with having a big family, and im sure they do love kids, my mum is 9th of 10 and our family is great!! but i think there is more too it in this case, but im not going to bother going into it, because someone will no doubt have a go at me, i didnt post that to get in an argument, but it is a fact that it does put a terrible strain on a womans body to have 16 or more pregnancies,
angel baby, whether or not you are right about the older mother thing, i htink there are alot of unreal mums on this site who may have something to say about that.....

[talon]

i sort of agree with both of you on this one. i think the female body is designed for procreation but really, there are always limits to the amount of physical pressure a body can take. :eek: A body needs time for a bit of r&r as well. ;)

- had to chuckle at the "jimbob" jab. :D

[WeThree]

lol kriscee, glad someone could appreciate a bit of a joke :D

[Angel_baby_1982]

Was just stating a widely accepted medical principle. The female body responds best to pregnancy when a woman is in her early to mid 20's.

All I said is to wait longer can cause problems, I never said I had a problem with older mums, it dosen't suit everyone's situation to start young and it's a very personal decision!

My point was that in today's society it is widely acceptable for women to start having children later in life, even though in many cases it would be healthier not to do so. But a women who has more than 3 or 4 kids isn't as easily accepted, even though it poses no real health risk to have several children!

It's just a cultural thing, in 20 yrs who knows, it may be considered perfectly normal to have a dozen or more kids, or it may be the norm to have only one! Those people would look back on today's standards with the same feelings you have for this person's choice of lifestyle!

:D Isn't it funny how standards change over time! Who here would be caught dead in the fashions and hairstyles of the 80's! ROTFL

[our little treasures]

I wanted a big family but I'm not that crazy!! :p

[Ky]

My Mum was the fifth in a family of eight and my Dad was an only child ... you can imagine the culture shock he went through the first time Mum took him home for a family meal! He learnt very quickly that you didn't sit in the middle of the side of the table as you ended up passing bowls of food around all meal and not getting a chance to eat!

I love that I have so many cousins ... it is just a shame that my Mum was only able to have the two of us (7 m/c between my sister and I) ... she would have loved a huge family.

My dh is one of 3 boys and so far his 2 brothers have 4 kids each, we have 4 but only 2 living and only one of the brothers has said that they are finished having thier family!

I am really surprised at the number of people who are leaning towards bigger families these days ... it was so common when I was growing up for there to be only one or two children in each family and any family larger than that was considered large! I have many friends now who have 4-6 kids and haven't decided to stop yet ... I say good on them, large families are great!

On the other hand, I am going to see a friend tonight who has recently made the decision to stop now after having one child. Like me, she is getting a bit older and has the added problem of a physical disability. She is a fantastic Mum and does things with her daughter that I don't have time (or the patience) for and I think that she has made the right decision for her and her husband.

As for me ... well I would love at least another 2 kids, but no way do I want 16!

[Sharlee]

Whatever makes her happy :rolleyes:

[carls]

For me the hardest bit to understand is not how she carries and bears all those children.. but that in between all that being pregnant and getting up in the night etc etc, she actually still manages to have sex??!!!! :confused:

Maybe shes so stretched after 16 kids she cant have sex in case her hubby falls in!

[Briannabear]

I actually know a lady who is pregnant for the 15th time. Her oldest is well in their thirties.

[Crazyfamily]

I am only 18 weeks pregnant with number 6 and it already feels like the baby will fall out. If all her kids are loved and well looked after good on her as for me my body won't cope another pregnancy i am sure of that.

[LittleBoysRock]

She must be TOTALLY MAD!!

[carls]

She must be TOTALLY MAD!!

Or Catholic! ;)